Latest news with #DallaLanaSchoolofPublicHealth
Calgary Herald
3 days ago
- Climate
- Calgary Herald
Smoke free summers a thing of the past as Alberta gets hit with wildfire smoke from all sides
Wildfires burning across western Canada are having a major impact on the air quality in most of Alberta. Article content Article content Article content Smoke from wildfires burning in British Columbia, northern Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are cumulatively worsening the air quality across municipalities in the province and experts are saying smoke-free summers are becoming a thing of the past. Article content Article content Article content Environment Canada's air quality health index (AQHI) is forecasting Edmonton will jump from a 9 out of 10 on Monday to a 10 on Tuesday. Article content Article content Article content Postmedia spoke with two experts in public health and medicine to discuss how Albertans can protect against the smoke, health risks and why does Alberta get so much smoke. Article content Low snow pack, warm and dry weather, and lack of precipitation are pointing to an unfavourable fire season for western Canada — specifically Alberta, says Jeff Brook, an associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Article content Article content Brook said while there's smoke every summer, it is often just above the ground at low levels. However over the past 10 years, he said, researchers are seeing cases where smoke conditions are becoming progressively worse. Article content Article content Article content 'We generally think that the smoke particles are as harmful when we inhale them as regular pollution, and we need to treat them that way,' Brook said. Article content Article content Alberta getting more smoke in recent weeks is in part due to 'luck of the draw' and paired with weather patterns over multiple days as wildfires continue to burn, according to Brook. Article content Article content The reason why Edmonton might get more smoke is due to its proximity to the boreal forest regions, which are often very susceptible to fires. Article content Brook said smoke particles can endure quite readily even when indoors — half of what is outside will get inside. Article content Article content One of the best ways to protect against smoke particles, especially the smaller ones, is by using an air purifier. He said purchasing one is extremely effective, but for those who want to make one at home using a high quality furnace filter, box fan and card board would also be efficient.
Edmonton Journal
3 days ago
- Climate
- Edmonton Journal
Smoke free summers a thing of the past as Alberta gets hit with wildfire smoke from all sides
Article content Wildfires burning across western Canada are having a major impact on the air quality in most of Alberta. Smoke from wildfires burning in British Columbia, northern Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are cumulatively worsening the air quality across municipalities in the province and experts are saying smoke-free summers are becoming a thing of the past. Article content Environment Canada's air quality health index (AQHI) is forecasting Edmonton will jump from a 9 out of 10 on Monday to a 10 on Tuesday. Postmedia spoke with two experts in public health and medicine to discuss how Albertans can protect against the smoke, health risks and why does Alberta get so much smoke. Why does Alberta get so much smoke during wildfire season and is it getting worse? Low snow pack, warm and dry weather, and lack of precipitation are pointing to an unfavourable fire season for western Canada — specifically Alberta, says Jeff Brook, an associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Brook said while there's smoke every summer, it is often just above the ground at low levels. However over the past 10 years, he said, researchers are seeing cases where smoke conditions are becoming progressively worse. Article content 'We generally think that the smoke particles are as harmful when we inhale them as regular pollution, and we need to treat them that way,' Brook said. Alberta getting more smoke in recent weeks is in part due to 'luck of the draw' and paired with weather patterns over multiple days as wildfires continue to burn, according to Brook. The reason why Edmonton might get more smoke is due to its proximity to the boreal forest regions, which are often very susceptible to fires. How do you keep your home smoke free and protect against it? Brook said smoke particles can endure quite readily even when indoors — half of what is outside will get inside. One of the best ways to protect against smoke particles, especially the smaller ones, is by using an air purifier. He said purchasing one is extremely effective, but for those who want to make one at home using a high quality furnace filter, box fan and card board would also be efficient. Article content Dr. Anne Hicks, an associate professor in pediatric respiratory medicine at the University of Alberta, said the only way to protect against wildfire smoke is to avoid breathing as much in as possible. She said surgical masks are a good option to filter out the larger smoke particles, but masks like N95, which are often used by health-care professionals, will filter between 95 to 99 per cent of particles. 'I can still smell smoke through my N95 masks, so those very small particles that get absorbed directly into your bloodstream are still passing through that mask. You can still exercise effectively in those masks, they feel kind of hot and sweaty and claustrophobic, but you have good oxygen coming in and waste gas going out, so they're a nice compromise,' Hicks said. What are the health risks associated with smoke? Hicks said in the short term, everybody will have a little irritation due to smoke whether it's in the eyes or nose, and the larger particles that settle into the throat may cause coughing, the health risks will likely be invisible for many people. Article content But for those with heart and lung disease, they might feel symptoms earlier on. Hicks added there's an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes when there are heavy smoke periods for older adults. Those with a respiratory infection are also at an increased risk of needing an emergency-room visit or hospitalization, as are people in high-risk groups such as infants, young children, seniors and those who have high outdoor exposure. 'If you can smell (the smoke), it's getting soaked into your body in some form or another. So in those cases you worry about asthma attacks or COPD attacks,' Hicks said. Brook said those who have a respiratory condition like asthma should ensure they are constantly carrying a puffer for when they feel exacerbations, just in case. Latest National Stories
Medscape
04-06-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Can a Majority of Sudden Cardiac Arrests Be Prevented?
Risk factor modification has long been considered an important strategy for cardiovascular disease prevention. For sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) especially — fatal in 90% of cases — studies have pointed to things like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and sedentary behavior as essential risk reduction targets. A recent study in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology provides a focus that has largely been missing in SCA prevention, honing in on the ability to potentially achieve anywhere from a 40%-63% reduction of cases by conservatively or totally eliminating 56 nonclinical risk factors. Is This Goal Too Lofty? 'When you think about it in practice and from a public health perspective, one would argue that this is unrealistic, almost impossible to achieve,' said Nick Grubic, lead author of the accompanying editorial and a PhD student and methodologist at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Nick Grubic, PhD But 'the study points to the importance of modifiable factors in preventing adverse cardiovascular events and chronic diseases and reinforces the need for clinicians to look towards lifestyle interventions as opposed to only focusing on something like pharmacologic management,' Grubic said. Fodder for SCA Prevention Focus Utilizing data from over 500,000 UK BioBank participants (mean baseline age, 56.5 years; SD, 8.1 years), the study was geared toward identifying modifiable risk factors associated with SCA incidence. One of the more novel approaches by the researchers, who are from the School of Public Health at the Fudan University in Shanghai, China, was to address certain limitations of previous studies (for example, short-term effects, residual confounding). They first used an exposome-wide association study design, which allowed them to move from a small number to hundreds of exposures. This was followed by Mendelian randomization to verify potential causal relationships, facilitating the ability to assess 125 nonclinical exposures across six domains: Lifestyle, psychosocial factors, local environment, physical measures, socioeconomic status, and early life risk factors. Over an average follow-up of almost 14 years, 0.63% (n = 3147) of participants developed SCA. Fifty-six variables across five domains appeared to be significantly associated with incident SCA, especially lifestyle measures (physical activity, sleep duration, dietary habits, smoking), which drove the largest proportion of SCA risk (13%). They were followed by physical measures (body mass index, weight, forced expiratory volume in 1 second; 9%), socioeconomic status (employment, social position; 8%), psychosocial factors (employment, mood; 5%), and local environment (5%). According to the findings, thoroughly eliminating all these 56 risk factors would prevent 63% of SCA cases, while conservatively addressing the riskiest would prevent approximately 40% of cases. In a related press release, study co-investigator Renjie Chen, PhD, underscored the unexpected benefits. 'We were surprised by the large proportion of SCA cases that could be prevented by improving unfavorable profiles,' he said. Honing down even further, three risk factors were associated with the most protection: White wine/champagne intake, fruit consumption, and time spent using a computer. Six were associated with the most harm: Fed-up feelings, arm fat mass, arm fat percentage, body mass index, low educational achievement, and systolic blood pressure. Pointing to one surprising finding — wine/champagne intake — Grubic emphasized the need to be mindful how risk factors like alcohol are measured. 'A lot of it is self-reported information. We really need a little bit more research to confirm a finding like this,' he said. The same is true of the finding that indicated a protective effect of greater time using the computer. Jennifer Reed, PhD 'We'd really have to dig into those individuals and acquire more information to tease out this piece,' said Jennifer Reed, PhD, program chair for Cardiac Rehabilitation at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. 'It's really a web to untangle; for example, they might have higher socioeconomic status or they could have positions that require a higher cognitive load,' said Reed, who was not involved in the study. Practice Implications Though novel in design and broad in findings, the study had several limitations. Both Grubic and Reed pointed specifically to the UK Biobank population, which not only consists mostly of older white adults who are unrepresentative of the general population. 'You really have to be mindful of who is providing the data,' said Reed. Grubic also said that in order to eliminate a risk factor, a well-defined and realistic intervention must exist. Moreover, erasing one risk factor should not change how the others are distributed. Other limitations included information and selection biases, as well as potential misclassifications. The findings confirm the value of lifestyle modification for SCA prevention, and also, provide additional evidence for the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 interventions for improving cardiovascular health. 'There needs to be a major shift in how we treat a patient, not only after something occurs (the reaction point or cure aspect), but also from a prevention point of view,' said Reed. 'It's interesting to see that a lot of the factors found to be potentially causally related and protective against SCA in a study like this,' said Grubic, something that Reed noted was vastly different from prior studies that have mostly focused on more traditional risk factors, such as diabetes or hyperlipidemia. 'In the average consulting time, doctors are generally addressing the most acute, urgent concerns first; it doesn't always provide the time for discussions about risk factors for cardiovascular disease,' said Reed. 'It's something that needs to shift a lot.' Having these conversations is how we start to make an impact on healthcare. Grubic and Reed reported no relevant financial relationships.
